Teen

Pro-gun rights Parkland shooting survivor Kyle Kashuv apologized Thursday night for making “offensive” comments in high school, an apparent reference to newly uncovered screenshots that purport to show the star activist repeatedly using anti-black racial slurs years ago.

“We were 16-year-olds making idiotic comments, using callous and inflammatory language in an effort to be as extreme and shocking as possible,” Kashuv said in a statement he posted to Twitter.

Kashuv’s statement doesn’t say exactly what he’s apologizing for, but it appears to refer to years-old writing in a Google Doc and over text messages. The racial slur-filled messages, allegedly from Kashuv, have circulated among right-wing activists and Parkland students on Twitter over the past week.

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

When asked for a motive in the murder, Johnson replied, “Let’s look at what the crime was.”

“Only they can know that. We can only assume [they wanted to] raise the child as their own,” he added. Johnson noted that the 46-year-old Figueroa’s 20-year-old son died of natural causes in 2017.

Police said Ochoa-Lopez, who was nine months pregnant, had bought baby clothes from the elder Figueroa in the past.

The victim had gone over to Figueroa’s house the day she was murdered, on April 23, to purchase more clothes and other baby items.

A spokesperson for the victim’s family, Cecilia Garcia, said Figueroa made it seem as if she was “giving clothes away, supposedly under the pretense that her daughters had been given clothes and they had all these extra boy clothes.”

Four hours after Ochoa-Lopez was seen driving to the suspect’s home, Figueroa was spotted “standing out on the street with a baby” and calling 911. Authorities confirmed they did receive a call for help about a baby from the same address where Ochoa-Lopez’s body was later found.

They said at the time the call was made, authorities had no indication Ochoa-Lopez was in that area.

Figueroa’s daughter, Desiree, allegedly confessed to police that she assisted her mom in strangling Ochoa-Lopez, according to The Chicago Tribune. Police did not disclose details on how the baby was removed from Ochoa-Lopez’s womb.

The baby boy is currently still in “grave condition” and not expected to survive, Johnson said.

“I can’t even imagine, pretend to imagine, what that family is going through right now,” he said. “They should be celebrating the birth of a young baby. Instead, they’re mourning the loss of a mother and possibly that young child.”

Ochoa-Lopez’s father, Arnulfo Ochoa, questioned both the hospital’s and the police’s effort in the case, saying he believed they did not give it enough attention early on because of the family’s immigrant background, the Tribune reported.

“We came to this country to give a good life for my daughter,” he said Thursday. “We just want justice for what they did for my daughter.”

As 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez struggled for her life, slipping her fingers under the electrical cable around her neck, her accused killer allegedly yelled at her own daughter for help with the grisly killing: “You’re not doing your fucking job!”

Following her mother’s order, 24-year-old Desiree Figueroa allegedly pried the nine-month pregnant teenager’s fingers from the cord and then brought 46-year-old Clarisa Figueroa a butcher’s knife from the kitchen, which they used to cut Ochoa-Lopez’s baby from her womb.

The grisly new details in the murder of the pregnant teen were revealed by Cook County prosecutors in court Friday.

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

An 18-year-old Alaska man has been arrested after taking to social media to declare “Let’s beat Hitler’s kill count” and referencing “shooting up” a synagogue—all while allegedly making homemade silencers and buying parts for a machine gun.

Prosecutors say the man, Michael Lee Graves, showed all the signs of a mass shooter preparing for a massacre, and a federal judge on Tuesday ordered that he remain in custody, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

In an affidavit unsealed Tuesday, the FBI described how it received a tip in late April that Graves may commit an act of violence related to the racist views he spouted on social media. Agent Joshua Rongitsch noted that Graves’ social media posts also make “many mentions of guns and acquiring guns and large capacity magazines.”

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

There are plenty of despicable characters in The Society, Netflix’s new apocalyptic teen drama that imagines a present-day, Lord of the Flies-inspired crisis in a small New England town. But Sam, a deaf teenager played by Sean Berdy, is not one of them: after the town’s parents disappear, he acts as a steady moral center as the community around him descends into ruthlessness and egotism.

Berdy, 25, spent five seasons playing the teen heartthrob Emmett Bledsoe in the Freeform family drama Switched At Birth. During that run he became a prominent face of a deaf and hearing-impaired community hungering for representation. But in 2018, he announced that was stepping away from acting due to his struggles with bipolar disorder. “I may look like the happiest and silliest man on earth, but that is an artist’s art of hiding,” he wrote on Instagram. “I have been hiding for so long and I’m done with it.”

The Society marks Berdy’s first major role since his hiatus. In a phone interview conducted with the assistance of a translator, Berdy talked about returning to acting, the atmosphere on set and the increasing visibility of the deaf community in film and TV.

What parts of The Society feel most similar to our own society?

The society in the show is actually based heavily on the politics of today. We have this gun violence epidemic, we have domestic violence increasing. We have social justice and the hate for socialism. I think the creators tried to include a lot of those issues to bring the story to life.

Last year you wrote on Instagram about your struggles with bipolar disorder. What have the last few years been like for you?

To be honest, I had hidden my struggle with my bipolar situation for over a good 14 years, I would say. It is a battle from from the moment I wake up until the end of the day. It feels like you’re in a bubble at times and you’re trying to get out. You stretch the bubble and want to break out of it—but you’re back inside and in the darkness at the end of the day. That has been difficult for me. I am very fortunate to have my family who’s supported me.

How did you decide you were ready to return to acting?

I think acting is in my blood—I am always ready to perform when I feel it. I took a good three years to focus on myself.

I guess you don’t really know when the time is right until the material presents itself. This script came to me, and therefore the time was right. When I read the script, I thought, “Wow, This is different. This is a story that is going to be a big hit once it goes out into the world.” I believe that.

My struggle has been up and down. It’s a situation where I live day to day. But with a daily focus and working with such a great cast and crew who supports me, they understand that some days aren’t the best for me and they’re there for me.

You’ve described your character on Switched at Birth as the “deaf James Dean.” How is your new character, Sam, different?

Sam is very aware of the fact he’s always been different from everyone where he grew up. He’s the only deaf guy in a hearing family. He thinks outside of the box, and really cares about people more than he cares about himself, in many ways.

The Society is unique in that virtually all of its characters are teenagers. What was it like filming with a cast of of exclusively young actors?

We were all meeting at this place for the first time and learning how to be a family. We were away together for four months filming these ten episodes that had all these heavy emotional scenes and required a lot of mental preparation. That helped us get closer quicker.

We would eat dinner together. We would have house parties. We had a lot of fun while working very hard. We spent four months away on the East coast, shooting in 20-degree weather with the wind chill factor making it maybe 10 degrees. We were wearing parkas. We had to rent a charter bus to sit on with the heater between takes.

It was a lot of fun, and we do feel like a family. Chris [Keyser, the show’s creator] and the producers have given us these opportunities to run wild, to be creative with our characters. They believe in us. This show is a heavy show. We’re putting all of our emotions out there and giving it our all.

The house parties on the show are pretty crazy. How did the ones in real life compare?

Those parties were pretty tame: board games, spaghetti dinners, or we’d order Chinese takeout. They were very traditionally oriented and warm gatherings, as opposed to the show, where you’d have these wild get-downs. In the first episode, we’re partying in a church—that’s about as wild as it gets. It’s probably about as wild a scene as I had ever filmed.

Your character mostly communicates with the other characters using American Sign Language. Did the other actors know how to sign before the show started?

They literally knew not one sign. We had an ASL coach on set who was responsible for teaching the lines in sign language to the cast. They had to have lessons during their free time and sometimes had to work extra over the weekends. I’m so proud of the cast—It’s not easy and they’re doing a great job on the show.

I admire Gideon [Adlon, who plays Becca] so much. She showed up cold and impressed me with how motivated she was to learn the language. Basically for each episode, she had a week-and-a-half or two weeks max to learn all her lines in sign language believably. That’s a lot of pressure—and she nailed it every time.

How did you draw on your own experiences with deafness to inform this character?

Sam’s story doesn’t exactly parallel my life because I’ve always been able to hear a little bit—and I can pretty much hear sounds with a hearing aid. I love music. I consider myself bilingual: my first language is ASL but I do have the ability to speak.

Has ASL visibility increased in Hollywood since you started your career?

I can say that Hollywood has recognized ASL finally. Two recent movies, The Shape of Water and A Quiet Place, were both beautiful movies featuring sign language in different ways.

In fact, I’m writing a movie right now that uses ASL. It’s a love story, and I hope to go into production in the next couple years. ASL is hot right now—but it’s my life language and it’s a beautiful language.

We have seen teenagers stepping up and becoming activists for change regarding issues like gun violence and climate change. What impact can teens have on the discourse?

For young people, this world is just getting crazier and crazier. It’s very hard for me emotionally, personally, to see things that are happening the world right now. I hope this show speaks for itself and illuminates what’s happening and helps the audience see we need to take care of some issues. I think that young people can inspire the world by sharing the message of love.

Police took into custody two suspects at STEM School Highland Ranch outside Denver: 18-year-old Devon Erickson and a younger student whom police said they initially misidentified as a boy but later realized was a girl.

“It was a very confusing situation,” Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said at a Wednesday morning press conference. “We originally thought the juvenile was a male by appearance.”

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

Kryst is a civil litigation attorney who received her law degree and MBA from Wake Forest University. During the pageant, fans of Kryst noticed that she wore her natural hair and unlike prior contests, she joined Garris in bypassing the need to straighten their hair in favor of their natural look.

Garris spoke to Refinery21about her decision saying, “There were a few naysayers saying, ‘You look better with straight hair,’ or ‘You should put in extensions and straighten your natural hair. As Miss Connecticut Teen USA, there are girls who would look at me in awe because they’ve always had the image of straight hair in pageants. Being able to spread the message of diversity, being yourself, and being confident in your curly, natural hair is something that I’m really looking forward to with my new national title.”

The closest Black women had to completing the trifecta before last night was in 2012 when Black women simultaneously wore crowns as Miss Teen USA and Miss USA.

Gabrielle Union, her husband Dwyane Wade and other celebs have donated to the family of Nigel Shelby, a 15-year-old who recently killed himself after being bullied for being gay.

According to TMZ, sources told them that the couple along with Lena Waithe, Ludacris and Janelle Monae, helped donate to Shelby’s mother, Camika Shelby, who put her son to rest in a beautiful ceremony on Saturday (April 27). The family also raised over $ 40,000 from a separate GoFundMe campaign.

Last month, Nigel sadly made headlines when he took his life after battling depression and being bullied for his sexual orientation by students at Huntsville High School. Apparently, Nigel came out two years ago.

The Alabama teen’s mother told ABC News that her son was a “a vibrant, outgoing and fun-loving child who would do anything he could to make others smile.”

“Nigel was a sweetheart. He loved everybody, he would help anybody. He was an angel,” Shelby said. “I just wish people could’ve seen how special he was while he was still here.”

Camika also shared that her son was seeking counseling and was close to being medicated for his mental health issues. But he still struggled with the fact that he was gay.

“I wish he could have been fully accepted while he was here because it was hard for him. He struggled,” she said.

“He used to ask me sometimes ‘Mama, why couldn’t I just be normal?’ And I’m like, ‘Baby, you are normal. Who you choose to love has nothing to do with the person that you are.’”

A post shared by ~NigelShelby (@lovelynigel) on Apr 23, 2019 at 9:52pm PDT

“I’m truly blessed that I got to spend 15 years with this child, but it also makes me so sad to know that he’s no longer with me. He was my motivation to keep going. He always kept me lifted up, so to not have that anymore is heartbreaking,” she said.

Even with a loving and accepting parent, Nigel still took his life, which is why it’s so incredibly important that as a community we hold up and love our Black LGBT children. Every single last one of us.

Another report conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found that nearly half of Black/African-American LGBTQ students felt unsafe due to their sexual orientation; over a third felt unsafe because of their gender expression and nearly 40 percent of Black/ African-American students were more likely to experience in-school discipline.

So it’s clear that our children need us now more than ever. All Black lives matter.

Rest in power Nigel.

If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741-741.

The mother of a young teen seen on video fighting Kashala Francis says she doesn’t want her daughter depicted as a monster.

“She did not kill her,” Johnnie Dorsey told ABC13 about her daughter’s involvement in the fight at Attucks Middle School. Francis died on Wednesday, days after complaining about a headache following the fight. Doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital placed her on life support after the discovery of a tumor in the back of her head and fluid that had built up around her brain.

“I hate this happened, you know I hate it. Not just for me, but for my daughter and for the family also,” Dorsey said.

In the video, Dorsey’s daughter is seen approaching Kashala outside of Attucks Middle School but according to her, it was a mutual agreement to meet for the fight.

“They agreed to fight around the corner,” her mother said.

According to Johnnie Dorsey, the issue between the two girls had been an ongoing feud. The two had a fight before back in March and this was the second fight. The events following the second fight has, according to Dorsey, broken her daughter apart.

“She’s destroyed. She’s having nightmares,” Dorsey said. “She said you know, ‘We just had a fight, I didn’t know she had a tumor, she’s a kid, mom. I didn’t hit her that hard.’” Dorsey added, “I mean, I can’t even hardly sleep at night. I feel so bad for the family.”

However, not everyone lasted. Over the years, many have left their franchise – either on their own or at the hand of producers. For the most part, those who remained were very supportive of the party who made the choice.

“I think if it’s going against what MTV believes in and that’s what they feel like they had to do, then that’s what they feel like they have to do,” Catelynn said during The Dr. Oz Show in July 2018 after Farrah was fired for continuing her adult entertainment career. “We have no choice in it or are a part of it.” Catelynn’s husband, Tyler Baltierra, was even happier: “I think it’s great. I think it’s awesome. The way she decided to live, her lifestyle, it just doesn’t really mesh with the rest of the cast and what we’re trying to educate [audiences] about, it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work very well together. … She’s not a really nice person to be around.”
Scroll through our gallery to see which stars have been axed.

GAME Of Thrones’ Hannah Murray has admitted that playing anorexic teen Cassie Ainsworth on E4 drama Skins remains one of her happiest work memories – despite finding international super-stardom in the HBO fantasy series.

The 29-year-old actress appeared on Lorraine earlier today, where she admitted that her 2007-2008 castmates are like her “siblings”.

Hannah appeared on Lorraine earlier today

Speaking about the popular show, Hannah said: “Some of the happiest times of my life, I fell in love with acting so hard and fast when I first started working on Skins.

“Then those people that I worked with on the show are like my best friends, they are almost like my siblings really, we are that close.

“I see them all the time, they’re such an important part of my life – that thread from that first job is still very, very consistent.”

The star took a break from acting to further her studies after finding fame in Skins, landing the recurring role of wildling Gilly in the second series of Game of Thrones in 2012.

Hannah played troubled anorexic Cassie in teen drama Skins

The actress says her Skins castmates, including GoT’s Joe Dempsie [bottom left] are like her ‘siblings’Getty – Contributor

Together with Samwell Tarly, Gilly played a key role in discovering the truth about Jon Snow’s legitimate parentage – and is one of the few characters to have survived to see in the final series of the show.

Speaking to Christine Lampard on the ITV breakfast show, Hannah revealed that she struggles to keep the top secret content of the show under wraps – and even spoiled the show for one of her friends at his birthday party.

She explained: “I always want to tell everyone, I once ruined a big spoiler for my friend at his birthday party – I just decided to tell him everything.

Hannah plays wildling Gilly in Game of ThronesHBOJoe plays Gendry in Game of Thrones – but he and Hannah are yet to share a scene together

DANGER!

ATTA KEL

“I am always worried I am going to get in trouble, so I am relieved the show is coming out so I can finally talk about it with everyone.”

The much-anticipated final series of Game of Thrones hit our screens in the early hours of Monday morning, with Hannah’s fellow Skins’ alumni, Joe Dempsie, also reprising his role of Gendry for the season.

Hannah previously confessed that she has always hoped Gilly and Gendry’s storylines will cross so that she can be reunited with her close pal on set.

As of yet, the two characters haven’t met in Westeros – and with just five episodes left of the hit series, the odds of an on-screen Skins reunion aren’t looking too likely.

Kailyn Lowry and Jenelle Evans have been through their fair share of drama – but it all came to a head in January when Jenelle and her mother, Barbara Evans, went on Instagram Live and made a joke about killing her. While filming a video with Brittany DeJesus, Barbara joked they should “all get lit, and we’ll go kill Kail.”

The comment almost immediately went viral and Kail, 27, quickly got word. “I heard Barb wants to kill me. … Are drunk words sober thoughts?” she tweeted at the time. The incident played out during the Monday, April 15, episode of Teen Mom 2 and was extremely intense.

During the episode, Jenelle and her mom went to Atlanta for a girls’ trip to destress. Even though David Eason wasn’t thrilled about Jenelle traveling without him, she needed a break from the real world and said that she was tired of hearing Kailyn talk about her on her podcast, so off they went.

After a day of shopping, Jenelle and Barbara broke out the wine and beer and went live on Instagram. She added Briana Dejesus’ sister to her stream, too. However, it all came crashing down when producer Kristen called Barbara while the stream was still going on.

On the small island where she lives off the coast of England, young Violet (Elle Fanning) has a terrific work ethic, both at home and at school. She also has a terrific voice and a tremendous potential to do something more with her talents. Teen Spirit, follows Violet on her quest for musical stardom.

A new study shows a significant decrease in teen driving accidents when school start is delayed. Researchers studied the impact of a 50-minute delay in high school start times in one of the largest school districts in the US.Child Development News — ScienceDaily

Performance-enhancing steroid use could increase the risk of cocaine use and addiction in teens, according to a new rodent study. The combination of these drugs could also impair fertility in young women.Teen Health News — ScienceDaily

A former CEO of the Ed Hardy clothing company allegedly sexually harassed a Polish teenager he hired to work as a live-in au pair, a new lawsuit alleges. Gary Berman, 57, got the 19-year-old nanny drunk during a supposed business trip to Miami and groped her, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court…Fashion News, Photos, and Video | New York Post

A 17-year-old boy was charged Friday with making online threats of “ethnic cleansing” against Black and Hispanic students at the public high school in Charlottesville, Virginia, a city that was the site of a deadly white nationalist rally in 2017.

The threats had shut down the city’s public schools on Thursday and Friday, drawing the community closer together but also sparking fear in a city that witnessed racial violence firsthand.

Aware that this college town has become synonymous with racial strife, city leaders used a news conference to speak out against racism and even rebuke past comments by President Donald Trump.

“We want the community and the world to know that hate is not welcomed in Charlottesville,” police Chief RaShall Brackney said. “Violence is not welcomed in Charlottesville. Intolerance is not welcomed in Charlottesville.”

She added: “And in Charlottesville and around the globe, we stand firmly in stating: There are not ‘very fine people’ on both sides of this issue.”

Brackney’s comment appeared to reference statements Trump made in the days after violence broke out in the city during the summer of 2017. A loosely connected mix of white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other far-right extremists had assembled to protest the city’s decision to remove a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a man plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.

In the days afterward, Trump acknowledged there were “some very bad people” looking for trouble in the group protesting plans to remove the statue. “But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,” he said.

Charlottesville police released few details about the teen who was arrested Friday because he was a juvenile. But they said he lives outside the city in Albemarle County and does not attend Charlottesville’s schools.

When asked about his race, police said the suspect identifies as Portuguese.

The teen faces a felony charge of threatening to commit serious bodily harm on school property. He is also charged with a misdemeanor count of harassment by computer.

Chief Brackney said the student used “vile and racially charged language” on 4chan, a shadowy site known for, among other things, cruel hoaxes and political extremism.

She said detective work helped find the teen and that internet providers and law enforcement professionals “nationally, internationally” helped the department investigate.

Rosa Atkins, the superintendent of Charlottesville schools, said the threat provoked real fear and anxiety. School counselors and others are preparing for the students’ return Monday.

“Since August 2017, our community has made a good-faith effort to have these difficult conversations about race and equity, and build trust and relationships in our school system and in our community,” she said. “And this comment attempted, although it failed, to undermine our efforts, and our community.”

Captured on video, Senator Fraser Anning was speaking with reporters when a teen who was recording him slapped an egg on the back of the senator’s head. The senator immediately turned around and hit the boy. A few men then held the boy on the ground for what seemed like an unnecessarily long amount of time as film crews surrounded him.

According to Australian reporter Kristy Mayr, the teenager was released from custody.

On Friday, the senator shared a statement where he blamed the shooting on Muslim immigration. “As always, leftwing politicians and the media will rush to claim that the causes of today’s shootings lie with gun laws or those who hold nationalist views, but this is all cliched nonsense,” he said. “The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place.”

The senator’s remarks were widely denounced. U.K. home secretary Sajid David accused the senator of further fueling extremism. “Australians will be utterly ashamed of this racist man,” he tweeted. “In no way does he represent our Australian friends.”

Australia’s prime minister Scott Morrison also condemned the senator’s comments: “The remarks by Senator Fraser Anning blaming the murderous attacks by a violent, rightwing, extremist terrorist in New Zealand on immigration are disgusting. Those views have no place in Australia, let alone the Australian parliament.”

After the shooting, New Zealand Attorney-General David Parker appeared to reveal that the government would ban semi-automatic weapons. However, on Saturday, he made it clear that the government hadn’t yet committed to that promise. New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern vowed to change gun laws and shared that the government would consider regulations on semi-automatics as “one of the issues,” RNZreports.

On Thursday, at least 49 people were reported dead following mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. One man was arrested and charged with murder for the attacks.

One thing’s for sure — Senator Anning was ready with that two-piece. Watch below.

Despite being hospitalized, Leah Messer revealed that her ‘sick’ daughter, Adalynn Faith, is still cracking everyone up in the ER. But the ‘Teen Mom’ star also got serious as she shared what’s ailing her little one.

I can still remember a time when I would’ve done anything to attend a Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party (short of crashing a la “The Hills” cast, of course); and on Friday night I finally made it onto a guest list filled primarily with people around half my age. After a brief hiatus, the annual …

Public health experts are continuing to sound the alarm on the teen vaping epidemic, tying the nearly 80% spike in youth tobacco use from 2017 to 2018 directly to e-cigarettes. The rise has been so significant that it has wiped out any progress in declining youth tobacco use in recent years, according to a report published Monday.

The legalization of marijuana in Washington state in 2012 gave parents the opportunity for a new teachable moment. Many say that as society has become more permissive, they want information and advice.Teen Health News — ScienceDaily

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

Sarah Jakes Roberts, daughter of Bishop T.D. Jakes, became a teen mom at age 14, and later went through a difficult public divorce. However, Roberts turned her pain into purpose by leading a ministry and creating her own entrepreneurial lane with a podcast, fashion line, and Woman Evolve, a national conference and movement to help women shatter glass ceilings.

Roberts is a four-time author, media personality, wife, and mother of four children. She has a flair for inspiring women to get through difficult times in their lives while deepening their relationship with God — and she does it her way. While comparisons with her famous father are inevitable, Roberts speaks on stage with a vibrant personality and her own style — she challenges everything from church and cultural norms to self-limiting beliefs, and toxic relationships.

Sarah Jakes Roberts

BLACK ENTERPRISE: Tell us about the moment or event that inspired you to move past the public scrutiny of being a preacher’s daughter who became a mother at 14 years old.

Sarah Jakes Roberts: I wish that I could tell you that it was just one moment, but it was a series of events. Each of those events was rooted in service. I was in my first marriage, and at a really broken point in my life. I didn’t want to go through another church scandal by first being a teen mom, and then having a divorce so I thought to myself I’ll blog, and hopefully through blogging, I’ll be able to help another woman avoid some of the issues that I’m dealing with. The more that I blogged about my situation, the more I asked myself what if you became the woman who is on the other side of those words? What if you actually took control of your life and decided to not just be this “mother” who is just going to die for their sake? As I was blogging and connecting with other women, and seeing that I wasn’t the only one who had made difficult choices, it really inspired me to see what we could do if I dusted off the ashes and chose to rebuild.

How did you learn to trust your self to deliver messages that challenged the status quo in church, life, and business? For instance earlier this year, when you released Wild Woman—a woman commented on your Instagram post that your messages appeared to contradict the Bible.

What I trust more than anything is the depth of what I am delivering. I believe if what you are delivering is the answer to a need that you should trust it. I also realize that in the process of growing and manifesting whatever this vision is, that I’m not always going to get it right.

For instance, I was so engrossed in what Wild Woman means to me, that it never dawned on me it would make people uncomfortable. I was engrossed in the need. So in the process of manifestation, you have to know that you’re going to have a learning curve and you may not do things the way you would do them in 10 years. But you can never find out how to do them in 10 years unless you start now.

How do you plan your content and prioritize what messages you deliver on?

I deliver messages that resonate with where I am. I think that probably has a lot to do with the passion that I end up bringing to the message. I don’t look at what’s going wrong in the world and say, okay I’m going to preach about this because it’s the headlines. I think some people do that and that works for them. But I literally go into prayer and access my own life. I focus on where am I and what do I need to hear.

For instance, when I preached ‘Unleashed’ in January, I was at a place in my life where everything I had done up until that moment was because someone invited me to do it. For me, that meant I was living in the realm of someone else’s vision. Now, I think that’s incredible because you learn so many things, but there comes a certain point where you stop wanting to be invited into someone else’s vision and ask God what is the vision you have for my life—that’s where Woman Evolve came from. So I preached the kind of messages that deliver me from my own fears and insecurities and it just so happens that it ends up resonating with other people.

Recently you launched a fashion line. How else do you see yourself evolving?

I see myself evolving in a way that probably will not change a lot of what the public sees, but more about who I am behind the scenes. What I’m working on now has a lot to do with structure and accountability. Making sure that I have the type of infrastructure to support the influx of people who are attached to this messaging. I hope to continue to learn about different strategies and creating proper timelines for the different pinnacles of the brand, and just connecting and submitting myself to people who know more than I do.

I want to challenge the belief that your relationship with God has to look a certain way in order for it to be real, I also want to challenge the belief that in order for you to be a Christian you can’t also like fashion. I believe it’s important for our generation, especially millennials who are leaving the church in droves, to look relevant to the cultures so that they can learn about our Jesus.

Before actress Eliza Dushku won a $ 9.5 million settlement from CBS over harassment by the network’s “NCIS” star Michael Weatherly, he dated Jessica Alba when she was a just teen, and took her virginity. Alba, then 18, and Weatherly, who was 30 at the time, dated for a few years after they met on the…Page Six

“In regards to the comment on tonight’s @teenmom episode insinuating Bristol is anything other than a great mother is deeply regretted on my part,” Meyer, 30, captioned a photo of himself paintballing with Bristol, 28, and her son Tripp Palin — whom she shares with ex-fiancé Levi Johnston — on Monday, December 17. “Looking back and seeing my behavior does not represent the man I strive to be. Going forward I have made the commitment to Bristol to work towards a better relationship and putting our children’s best interests before my own.”

In a followup post on Tuesday, December 18, the Afghanistan veteran — who split from Bristol in February — posted a photo of himself in a hospital bed and revealed that he suffers from anxiety. (He has previously spoken out about this struggle with PTSD.)

While the MTV star didn’t respond to Meyer’s remarks, she posted her own message about the show at the time and expressed her disapproval. “If I cared what people thought of me, I wouldn’t be here today — let’s be real. I’ve stood strong and held it down for my kids since day one. No matter how bad @teenmom tries to portray my ‘life’ … my babies, my family, my close friends — they know the truth,” she captioned a photo with Tripp and her daughters with Meyer, Sailor, 2, and Atlee, 19 months. “I’m a pretty great mom, work my ass off, show up, and hustle everyday to give my kids a pretty great life.”

She added: “@mtv doesn’t want to talk about faith, show work ethic, or juggling three kids alone, they don’t want to show the humble process of starting over after a divorce, building a career, or any real issues. All they want with my little segment each week is some fake fill-in Farrah Abraham/Jerry Springer BS, and it’s simply not true.”

Bristol confirmed in July that she’d be joining Teen Mom OG for season 7.

New data suggest that vaping isn’t a passing fad: Teenagers across the country are doing it in record numbers.

More than one-third — or 37.3 percent — of 12th-graders reported vaping at least once in the past 12 months, according to a survey released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That’s an increase of nearly 10 percentage points over 2017, when 27.8 percent of high school seniors reported vaping.

The students surveyed said they had vaped nicotine, marijuana or simply flavoring. Researchers say it’s unclear whether teens know what’s in their vape, and that some may be misguided about vaping only “flavoring.”

The findings are “a remarkable wake-up call for public health officials, and for parents and communities who are responsible for raising healthy children,” said Dr. Wilson Compton, the deputy director of the institute, which funded the survey.

The data also showed that the number of high school seniors who reported vaping nicotine within the previous 30 days nearly doubled from 11 percent in 2017 to 20.9 percent this year.

E-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are battery-operated devices that heat nicotine-laced liquid to generate an aerosol that users inhale. The liquids come in kid-friendly flavors — from watermelon to the more exotic “unicorn puke” — that release fruity and sweet vapors, making e-cigs easier to disguise than traditional cigarettes.

While the vape industry insists that its products are only for — and advertised to — adults, teens can easily get their hands on them.

Health experts fear that the high nicotine content of vaping liquids can be extremely addictive for teenagers and ultimately lead them to traditional cigarettes. Nicotine is known to raise blood pressure and has been linked to heart disease.

“We know that nicotine affects brain development,” said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at University of California-San Francisco who was not involved in this study.

The heated e-liquids, he added, “tear up your lungs.”

Researchers at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who conducted the annual survey, asked 44,482 students from 392 private and public schools across the country about their use of tobacco, opioids, marijuana and alcohol.

They found that the use of traditional cigarettes is still at a record low, with 3.6 percent of high school seniors smoking daily, compared with 22.4 percent two decades ago. Teenage opioid use is also decreasing: 3.4 percent of seniors reported using prescription opioids in 2018, down from 4.2 percent in 2017 — and significantly lower than its peak of 9.5 percent in 2004.

Alcohol use and binge drinking also continue to decline among teens, according to the survey.

Vaping is the outlier.

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The steady decline in teens’ use of other drugs makes the growth in vaping all the more concerning, Compton said. “It’s really important that we keep an eye on this.”

In response to this trend, hundreds of cities, towns and counties across the country are restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products, including vape liquids. California legislators recently introduced proposals to ban the sale of such products in stores and vending machines statewide, and to make it harder to buy them online.

The vape craze exploded when the Juul, an electronic cigarette brand with a sleek design resembling a flash drive, started popping up on school campuses. Students even take hits from their Juuls in class or school restrooms.

In vapes like the Juul, nicotine comes in “pods” or cartridges in flavors such as mango, cucumber and crème. Other e-cigarettes use “e-juice” or nicotine liquids that not only come in appealing flavors but are often packaged to look like candy.

“Our intent was never to have youth use Juul products,” said company spokesman Ted Kwong. Juul has taken steps to reduce teenage vaping, he said, such as ending the sales of certain flavored pods at retail stores starting last month, strengthening the age verification process on its website and eliminating its Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The restrictions proposed by the state legislature follow San Francisco’s ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including vaping liquids and menthol cigarettes, which took effect in July.

Twenty-four other California counties or cities have restricted the sale of these products, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. In Massachusetts, 136 communities have restrictions on the sales of flavored tobacco. In Minnesota, nine communities do. Chicago bans sales of flavored tobacco products within 500 feet of schools.

California state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), lead author of the state bills, said his proposals would curb the “epidemic proportion” of vaping among teens.

The effects of constantly being bullied are more than just psychological. Research now shows that there may be physical structural differences in the brains of adolescents who are regularly victimized, and this could increase the chance that they suffer from mental illness.Child Development News — ScienceDaily

New research finds that cannabis use among teens doesn’t appear to lead to greater conduct problems or greater affiliation with other teens who smoke cannabis. Instead, it’s adolescents with conduct problems or whose friends use cannabis who are more likely to gravitate toward cannabis use.Teen Health News — ScienceDaily

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb outlined a slew of policies, including restrictions on sales of flavored e-cigarettes, and essentially threatened to pull products from the market if manufacturers do not follow them. Health and Science

Federal regulators want to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes at retail locations like gas stations and convenience stores. They also want to require anyone buying e-cigarettes online to verify their age. The new restrictions come as the Food and Drug Administration has been trying to rein in a dramatic increase in vaping by young people. Smoking of traditional tobacco cigarettes has fallen to a record low, but the popularity of e-cigarettes among youth is raising alarm bells.

Colorado Public Radio’s John Daley reports on the effort for Kaiser Health News and NPR’s All Things Considered.

Concerns about caste-based violence in India are growing after a 13-year-old girl from a lower caste was beheaded in one of the country’s southern states last week, with her alleged assailant coming from a higher, majority caste, according to police.

Juul's e-cigarettes have gotten a bad rap as federal officials question whether their popular candy flavors are responsible for a spike in teen use. Anecdotal evidence suggests some adults use the nicotine pods as they were intended: to quit smoking.Health and Science

http://www.acrx.org -As millions of Americans strive to deal with the economic downturn,loss of jobs,foreclosures,high cost of gas,and the rising cost of prescription drug cost. Charles Myrick ,the President of American Consultants Rx, announced the re-release of the American Consultants Rx community service project which consist of millions of free discount prescription cards being donated to thousands of not for profits,hospitals,schools,churches,etc. in an effort to assist the uninsured,under insured,and seniors deal with the high cost of prescription drugs.-American Consultants Rx -Pharmacy Discount Network News

MCC Theater brings back Jocelyn Bioh’s ‘School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play,’ a cutting comedy with an emotional wallop centered around six school girls in Ghana preparing for a beauty pageant.Observer

The feds are stepping up an industrywide crackdown on e-cigarettes, concerned over what they have called an “epidemic” of young nicotine addicts. The Food and Drug Administration has sent letters to 21 manufacturers, demanding proof that they legally introduced their vaping devices. The letters, mailed on Friday, target e-cigarettes introduced after Aug. 8, 2016, noting…Business | New York Post

New research shows that one vague conversation with your teen about sex is not enough. Researchers found that ongoing communication between parents and their adolescent children benefits the parent-child relationship and leads to safer sexual activity at age 21.Child Development News — ScienceDaily